Do Christians Actually Believe What They Claim to Believe?

This post is a little unusual because there are some fundamentalist Christians who might actually agree with most of what I have to say. But I’m not writing this for them. I’m writing this for average everyday Christians, people who believe the Bible and perhaps even go to church on a regular basis, but who otherwise lead very ordinary lives.

If that sounds like you, then I have a question: Do you actually believe what you claim to believe? I’m sure your initial reaction is, “Of course I do!” But frankly, I’m a bit skeptical. Normally, beliefs affect behavior. For example, if you found out you have twenty-four hours to live, then tomorrow you would behave very differently than you would on a typical day.

Most Christians say they have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe. The creator of the universe! That’s a really big deal, to put it mildly. And yet, most Christians don’t seem very excited about it. Sure, there are some Christians who talk about god nonstop. But the majority of Christians don’t seem to even think about god very often.

Penn Jillette was once on a news show where they were discussing religion, and he referred to himself as a hardcore atheist. Someone asked, “What is a hardcore atheist?” and Penn said, “I don’t even believe that other people believe in god.”

I wouldn’t go that far. Some people clearly do believe in god; I know I did. But I think he’s on to something. It seems as though the majority of Christians don’t really believe in god, even if they think they do.

This might sound a little strange, so let me break it down. I’m going to offer 4 reasons why it seems like most Christians don’t actually believe what they claim to believe (even if they think they do).

1. They Haven’t Read The Entire Bible

If you’re a Christian and you haven’t read the entire Bible, I want you to do something. Tonight, go outside and–weather permitting–look at the countless stars in the sky. What you’ll see is just a narrow slice of a single galaxy, which itself is but a speck among billions of galaxies. You mean to tell me that you have a personal relationship with the creator of all those galaxies, and you haven’t finished reading his book yet?

How embarrassed will you be if you die right now and go to Heaven, and Jesus meets you at the pearly gates and says, “Hey, have you finished reading my book yet?” What are you going to say? “Oh… sorry, I’ve been swamped. I’ll finish it first chance I get”?

How is it that millions of Christians claim to believe the Bible is the word of God, yet after years–sometimes even decades–they still haven’t finished reading it? Granted, it’s a long book, and sooo boring. But certainly they could make time if it’s important to them. Don’t they want to see what the creator of the universe has to say? Don’t they want to read his message to them?

2. They’re Not Very Worried About People Going To Hell

Many Christians claim to believe that some of the people around them are going to burn in Hell forever, yet they don’t bother doing anything about it. Even worse, they don’t even seem very worried about it.

If you’re a Christian, imagine you know someone–say, a coworker–who has terminal cancer. Now imagine you have the cure for cancer. Wouldn’t you tell them about it? At least once? Granted, they would probably say, “Yea, yea, I’ve heard that before. I don’t believe it.” But still, wouldn’t you at least try?

If people around you were dying of cancer and you had the cure, would you say, “Well, hopefully they’ll find it on their own”? No way. Maybe you wouldn’t harass them lest you inadvertently push them away, but wouldn’t you try to get through to them at least once? And wouldn’t you always be friendly and kind in hopes that they would reach out to you?

This isn’t even a great analogy because cancer doesn’t even compare to an eternity in Hell. Yet some Christians go their entire lives without trying to convert anyone or going on a single mission trip. It’s as if they don’t really believe other people are going to Hell. Either that, or they just don’t care.

3. They Commit Blatant Sins Even Though God is Supposedly Watching

I’m also puzzled when Christians commit sins even though they claim to believe God is everywhere. I’m not talking about accidentally swearing or losing one’s temper; I’m talking about the kind of sins where there is plenty of time to stop and repent.

Here’s an obvious example that all Christians should consider: Would you visit a porn site if your mother were standing behind you? Not a chance! But God is standing behind you all the time, right?

Well, maybe you don’t visit porn sites. 😉 But studies have shown that religious states consume the most porn, so it’s safe to say that a lot of Christians are watching porn. Do they honestly believe God is in the room with them when they do this? I’m not so sure.

The same could be asked of other types of sins: lying, coveting, working on Sundays (all of which are in the 10 commandments). Christians, if Jesus appeared in the flesh and followed you everywhere, wouldn’t you behave differently? If so, then I have to wonder whether you actually believe in an omnipresent god.

4. They Don’t Pray Very Often

It’s strange to me that many Christians don’t even pray on a daily basis. There are dozens of bible verses about prayer, and yet the average Christian only prays on Sundays.

If you’re a Christian, I want you to do something that you’re always telling atheists to do: Look at the trees! Think about how you can drop a seed into the dirt and watch it slowly stretch out of the ground and grow leaves and fruit and even more seeds. Or consider the complexity of the human body, all those organs working together to keep the body alive. Or the human brain, a computer far more powerful than any computer built by humans, and it runs on a fraction of the energy!

You believe the same being that designed all those incredible things knows you and loves you and is listening to you all the time, and you hardly ever talk to him?

I also find it interesting that Christians usually only pray for things that could happen on their own by coincidence. For example, they might pray for someone’s cancer to go into remission (something that can happen naturally), but they won’t bother praying for an amputee to grow his arm back.

I suspect this is because deep down they know there’s no one listening to their prayers, but they don’t want to break the illusion by praying for something that is obviously impossible. So they continue to pray for simple things–a better job, a better marriage, even winning the lottery–but always things that have at least a small chance of happening anyway.

Conclusion

Now as I said in the introduction, I’m not claiming that no Christians believe in god. I’m suggesting the possibility that most of them don’t, even if they think they do. They don’t believe in god; they believe that they believe in god.

The ones who really believe are on street corners with signs, volunteering in homeless shelters, and going on mission trips. We can be fairly certain that those people believe because their behavior actually reflects their beliefs.

If you’re just an average everyday Christian, there are two ways you could react to this post:

1. You could feel guilty and decide to rededicate your life to Christ. Please don’t. Or at least take the time to read mythoughtsongod and the Bible first. It would be a shame to waste your one and only life on something that isn’t true.

2. You could be honest with yourself and admit you don’t really believe all that nonsense in the Bible. Maybe you could become a deist who still thinks god is the best explanation for the origin of the universe, or you could admit that technically there is no way to know for sure and label yourself an agnostic. Whatever. But at least admit that you don’t actually believe in the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent god of the Bible.

Because if you really believed that, you would act like it.

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Comments

I like this and agree. However, as an atheist, I can assure you even the pretend believers think about Hell a lot and are more than delighted to share their glee of your eternal damnation if you don’t agree that god exists.

I quite agree with all this, and I am a Christian. The only thing I would add that “Christian” is not simply anything that calls itself a Christian. If you read the whole Bible – and I have, several times – you learn that virtually all that calls itself “The Church” is nothing of the sort. “Many are called, but FEW are chosen”, and all that.

My “goto response” in these occasions is that in truth, those who are truly Christians are very, very, few, and the chances are good that you’ve never even met a real Christian in your entire life – at least if you live in America.

Sure, you’ve met lots of “church folks”. You’ve met lots of “religious people”, but those whom God has revealed himself to are relatively few in number in comparrison to the whole population.

Real Christianity is not about “making a decision for Jesus”. You will find that NOWHERE in scripture. God doesn’t care about your decisions.

In the end, the real Christians are those who believe in God for no other reason than they – like me – cannot help it. I just cannot help it. When you get right down to the matter of belief, you find (if you are honest) that you really don’t have any control over what you believe. In fact, modern psychology tends to lean towards the notion that whether we believe or or not, we choose irrationally, and THEN justify those beliefs after the fact. It was a concept I first picked up reading one of Scott Adams’s books (the Dilbert creator), where he explained the current thinking in modern psychology. And I had to agree.

Christianity is not about creeds, and good works, or prayer, or bible reading, or going to church, or building homes for the homeless, or helping the poor, or anything else like that. Christianity is you being put to Jesus’ question “But who do YOU say that I am?”

And if you examine it closely, and are intellectually honest, you will realize that you don’t have any control over that. You either believe, or you do not. And either way, you make the choice first without any action of the will, and then your will steps in afterwards to offer rationalization and justification for what you chose.

When I examine myself honestly, I find that that is exactly what happened in my case. I have always believed, and I have no rational reason to offer as to why.

It is not that I am uneducated. I graduated with honours, and I am a software developer and systems engineer working in about a dozen languages. I’ve heard all the pros and cons from my brother, who is a flaming atheist (don’t worry, I call him that to his face), and I have no explanation for why we are different. We are within three years of each other in age. We had the exact same upbringing from the exact same (non religious) parents.

But, as the Bible puts it, Christianity (I use that term only for your benefit because I think and hope that you will understand what I mean by using it), is entirely God’s work, and has nothing to do with the decisions, or works, or activities of men.

God chooses who is saved, and it is not based on any merit or worth or works that you think you have, or have done. In my own case, I offered nothing of any worth or value to God. God got no bargain in saving me. I added nothing to his bottom line in any way. I come to the table with no currency. I have not a single good reason why he should save me, and he has a good long list of really good reasons why he should not. And yet, he did.

All true Christians are those same people who, as recorded in the Bible, reviled and hated him (Jesus) and demanded that he be killed. *I* am the one who spit in his face. *I* am the one who screamed KILL HIM. And I am the one Jesus Christ looked down upon from the cross and said, “Forgive him, he knows not what he does”.

THOSE are Christians. Not all these Joel Osteen idiots with their wealth and prosperity gospel. Jesus said “You will be hated by all men on account of me”.

In the end, it’s not about me. God is glorified in forgiving evil men like me, not because he wants to, but because he is the only one who can.

You’re a goddamned (pun intended) liar. If you had really read the bible objectively, you could not possibly be a christian.

If you were, you would have to agree to genocide, slavery, rape and killing people for the following: Working on Sundays, wearing clothes of two different fabrics, cutting their hair or beards, women who are not virgins on their wedding day, children who speak disrespectfully to their parents, and a myriad of other “sins” as described in the bible. Do you agree to thees things? If you do not, you are not a christian.

Your god is an evil, unforgiving, jealous, violent, jerk. That’s only those things by his own admission. Maybe that’s why so many of his followers, are intolerant judgmental, unforgiving, and arrogant.

“All true christians?” That’s the “No true Scotsman” argument that s so tiresome and ignorant, I am always amazed that anyone is so stupid as to use it.

As easily observed, there is not statement too stupid, illegal, hateful, or lacking in human decency that theists will not use it. Thank you for demonstrating that truth yet again.

So you’re verbally attacking someone that you think agrees with genocide, slavery, rape, and murder… Someone that worships an evil, unforgiving, jealous, and violent jerk. You’re either suicidal or you don’t believe they’re really that bad. I guess you’re not a true atheist (insert some convoluted semantic argument here).

Why do you think you’re making some kind of coherent argument about Christianity by citing the Old Testament? And why do think you make a better argument by name-calling and hostility? Is that how you show your intellectual superiority?

– When confronted by Satan, Jesus appealed to the Old Testament as a source of authority by stating, “It is written,” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10),
-“The Scripture cannot be broken,” (John. 10:35)
-Jesus made reference to the Law and Prophets as a unit, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill,” (Matt. 5:17)

Read your book, dumbass before you make yourself look like a complete hypocrite.

Promoting Atheism 101: “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

I am trying to understand the curious logic by which you, and people like you, conclude that being self-righteous, obnoxious, condescending and abusive would convince Christians like Robert of the truth of your point of view.

As an agnostic atheist myself, if I were in a position to base my belief system on the arguments presented by yourself and Robert above, I have to admit I’d be more in favour of adopting his beliefs than yours. Robert clearly states his proposition and provides reasoned arguments for it. You simply hurl a torrent of abuse that convinces nobody of anything. All your post demonstrates is that you’ve read Leviticus, that favourite fallback of anti-godders everywhere when they want to rant about genocide, slavery, murder and the unlawful wearing of cotton-polyester blends.

Yes, the bible is severely self-contradictory in many of the points it makes. But so are many of the secular sayings and proverbs by which we guide our actions – “Look before you leap” and “He who hesitates is lost” being the most well-known contradictory examples. Each have validity in specific circumstances. In the same way, there are aspects of the bible that are by our standards brutal, yet had purpose in the primitive and violent ancient world, and there are others that are especially relevant today. For example, Matthew 7:1-5. Look it up. You might learn something about yourself.

Finally, while you’re ranting about logical fallacies such as “No true Scotsman”, I suggest you look up one known as “Argumentum ad hominem.” Then, if you have the capacity to see past your own self-righteousness, you may learn some valuable and useful lessons about human nature by re-reading your own post.

I truly appreciate your stance, having said that I would be remiss if I didn’t explain what a ‘True Christian’ really is. The frailty that begets bigotry and idolatry and a whole host of other common ‘Christian’ practices is entirely built upon by man. The Bible wholly explains that a majority of ‘Christians’ today are actually just repackaged Pagans of the days of old. Worship on a Sunday isn’t what keeping the Sabbath was all about, in fact the Sabbath is a Saturday. The whole idea of keeping said day was to ensure that the penance one had for their mistakes during the week was fulfilled. This is an outdated practice as the new covenant with Jesus meant that wholly putting faith in Him was enough. For this reason are all men sinners and yet still saved.
The frailty you observe amongst those in your community and indeed the Christian community at large is one that is forgiven (even if you have to just bit your tongue and grit through the bullshit). In fact not to give all Christians a pass but man can’t be saved by works alone. So all of the sins that you acknowledge Christians partake in (knowingly or through ignorance of the truth) is really just through an issue with themselves struggling in their faith. They are forgiven just as we all our, this notion means that every mistake was already known and already forgiven. Just as God allowed Satan power on this earth He also knew that regular good intentioned Christian people would be prey to the same temptations as any other person. This allows all of us to be saved despite our shitty temperament or proclivities. With a God being omniscient, omnipresent, and omni-benevolent we must realize that in keeping with such a standard and allowing free will then the mistakes or purposeful actions of all people will be allowed to occur such that those who seek Him will still know him. I hope you take solace in the fact that despite such a solipsistic approach to life in thinking that this is all there is and all that matters there are still other whom, I’m sure much like yourself are striving for the betterment of their fellow man. No matter how hard that struggle may be, I wish you peace and joy (even in the long suffering of the ignorant)

Having been once a Christian, I can confirm what the author says above. I believed that I believed. It made me feel good to have “answers”. But I didnt act like I really believed. The thought of trying to tell someone about my religion or witnessing made me feel embarrassed down deep.
The part where he says “I suspect this is because deep down they know there’s no one listening
to their prayers, but they don’t want to break the illusion by praying
for something that is obviously impossible.” really struck me.
This really is the crux of the issue, even beyond prayer, its the illusion overlaid on real life.

I remember the yearly “revivals” that came to the various churches I attended, to those that don’t know, a revival is a “bringing back to life” of faith and devotion to the religion. (recharge the faith battery) There would be special guest preachers and musical guests, things for kids to do,etc.
Why is this necessary if God loved us and had saved us and was our permanent best friend? Why did we have to be recharged on a yearly basis?

I visited a church with my parents as an adult. It was a very large church and the pastor had one arm. There were at least 500 people in that church, yet, Sunday after Sunday, they went and never got all together and prayed for his arm to grow back. The Bible says that when two or more are gathered in God’s name, he is there.
It would have broken the illusion.

Religious experience is generated entirely by the mind. It begins there and ends there. Any ‘relationship’ you think you have with god is only your imagination overwhelming you. Your imagination is a powerful tool. You should exercise caution using it lest you become confused about the difference between what is real and what you wish were real. Supernatural explanations are hokum.

I will go along with most Christians have probably not read the Bible. And I also think Christians live pretty much the life they want to live. Most Christians I have talked to believe that all you have to do to be saved is believe Jesus was the Son of God and not disbelieve anything that is written in the Bible. You do have the Christian Right who are extreme in their thinking. I think these people are a threat. I tend to think a number of Christians believe the Bible out of fear of hell. I was once a Christian and I was brought up in a fundamentalist church. I found being a Christian frightening and repressive.

There are a lot of Christians, and presumably other religious persons, who honestly don’t believe what they claim to believe, they simply pretend to do so because they think it makes them look good to the neighbors. They are playing a part and they may not even be aware they’re doing it. I call these people “social Christians”. They never read the Bible, they rarely go to church and when they do, it’s just for show. They make a big deal out of prayer and piety, but I’d wager they’re not really praying, they’re just showing off. In fact, I think this describes the majority of self-professed Christians and why so many people have left religion in such a short period of time, they all realized that they weren’t impressing anyone and that they don’t have to pretend anymore to succeed in social situations.

I was reminded, with sad irony, of a scene in Big Bang Theory where Will Wheaton, Sheldon’s archenemy tells Sheldon how He (Wheaton) gets to have free space in his (Sheldon’s) head. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z15kN4LgPNA)

The comparison would be funny, if it were’t so sad.

It’s not clear that the methods currently employed by some atheists are actually bringing about the desired results.